Chapter Sixteen
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Zane
I wake up alone, a feeling I do not like, and immediately text Stella and ask if she wants to go out to dinner tonight. This week will be busy, and I want her all to myself for a while. I also ask if I can bring a change of clothes. I’d like to spend the night at her apartment—to remedy the waking up alone—but I can’t afford two hours off the top of a Monday morning to come up to the penthouse to shower and change before work.
She tells me the later the better. She has to catch up on laundry and homework, but that works for me, too.
I spend all day going over what Denton and Cramer have done in the past six months without me and my father. Mostly things, from what I can tell, look okay. If they’ve done anything they don’t want me to find, they’ve covered their tracks well.
I decide to confide in one of my father’s friends at the party. He runs a consulting firm in London, and I need his help. Zarah invited him and his wife and I’ll be able to talk to him discreetly in person. I want Maddox Industries to bounce back after my father’s death, and I won’t be able to do it alone. Denton and Cramer will be pissed, but the fact is, after them leaning on me this past week to do things I don’t want to do, I don’t trust them anymore.
It’s natural to think of Ash’s father. The Blacks and Maddoxes have been friends for decades. But I have to remember Black Enterprises and Maddox Industries are competitors, and I need to keep Ash’s and my friendship and our businesses separate.
I study paperwork until a headache picks at my skull and I can’t read one more word, and I’m exhausted by the time I text Stella to let her know I’m on the way to her apartment. I’ve chosen a casual, upscale place for our date, and I look forward to a dark corner, a bottle of wine, and my hand on her thigh while she tells me childhood stories.
Under a tree raining yellow leaves, I park my car in front of her apartment complex. I haven’t driven in months, but Stella’s coaxing out the normal in me and it’s nice to sit behind the wheel. I feel in control guiding the powerful engine through the city.
I knock on her door, and she answers near tears. Her hair is done, and she’s made up her face, but she’s wearing a robe that’s been washed too many times and looks grey instead of white.
“What’s the matter?” I ask, wrapping my arms around her.
“I don’t have anything to wear. The clothes Zarah and I bought yesterday won’t be delivered until tomorrow.”
“It can’t be that bad. Let’s look.”
How she dresses has never bothered me—she’s stunning no matter what she wears. I love how down to earth she is, who she is under the clothes. How concerned she is about the world around her. How she does the best she can using what few resources she has.
I follow her to her bedroom and resist sliding off her robe and having my way with her on the messy bed. Resist ordering a pizza and watching another movie on Netflix.
My parents had a very private life, but they also knew the value of socializing publicly—for the good of the company as well as their standing in the city—and even if we don’t talk to anyone at the restaurant, I know I need to see and be seen. With Stella by my side, it won’t be terrible. She might even make it enjoyable.
She sits on the bed rubbing her damp cheeks, and I flip through the hangers in her little closet.
Her clothing choices for a night out like this are meagre, but the restaurant isn’t as glamorous as she thinks. I choose a black dress (not the one she wore to Temptations, though Ash’s accusation rings in my head), something she could wear to work and probably has. I don’t know how old it is, but it’s a simple sheath and if she wears a sparkly necklace, it will do the trick.
“This is fine,” I say, holding out the hanger.
She wrinkles her nose. “It’s plain.”
“It won’t be on you. Come on, we have reservations.”
We swap places, and lounging on her bed, I watch her dress. Just as I suspected, the dress will suit. It shows off just enough cleavage I’ll be drooling all night. She’s beautiful, and the black darkens her eyes to the color of blueberries. They pop against her fair skin and blonde hair. As a finishing touch, she sprays on a scent that will drive me crazy every time I inhale.
Navigating downtown traffic, we don’t reach the restaurant until nine, and I’m so hungry I feel like I could eat six entrées and twice as many desserts. I hand over my keys to the valet, and Stella waits for me to open her door and help her out of the car.
“Zane! It’s great to see you!”
I turn toward the lobby, and Chase Forrester and his wife, Mina, are heading straight for us.
Shit.
Chase works on Ash’s legal team, and we meet up at various social functions. He and his wife are older than me by about ten years, and I feel awkward greeting them without my father by my side.
“Chase. Mina. Nice to see you.” I shake Chase’s hand and kiss Mina’s cheek. “This is Stella Mayfair, my girlfriend and executive assistant. Chase works for Ash and his father.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Stella says, holding out her hand.
Chase eyes her, and Mina beams, saying, “I’ve been dying to meet you. You’re so pretty, and the camera loves you. I was watching the gossip channel and saw you and Zane at the zoo. It was adorable.”
“Thank you,” she murmurs. “We had a good time.”
Chase rubs his hands together. “Were you going in? Let’s sit together. Do you mind, or were you meeting someone else?”
I want to be alone with Stella, but this is my life. I look at her, and she takes the decision out of my hands.
“That would be lovely.”
Chase grins. “Great.”
The hostess seats us at a table near a window, and a sommelier offers me a wine list. No one asks if Stella’s old enough to drink, and I order a magnum of champagne.
Mina wiggles her bony shoulders, a pleased smile on her face.
I’ll be expected to pick up our bill, but it’s something I can’t let myself get bitter about. My father was always happy to pay in a show of goodwill and Maddox hospitality. He didn’t question the motives of the people we socialized with, and I need to remember to do the same.
Chase drapes his arm across the back of Mina’s chair. A diamond the size of a small rock hangs from her slender neck on a chain so delicate I can barely see it. Under the table, I hold Stella’s hand. She’s being a good sport...I’ll thank her later.
“We were excited to receive the party invite,” Chase says, leaning forward. “It’s going to be the event of the year.”
“I doubt that,” I say skeptically.
We party all the time. Charity dinners, fundraisers, casual social gatherings, and private dinner parties. My gala announcing I’m finally ready to step into my father’s place—though with every day that goes by I feel less and less prepared—won’t be anything new. Zarah ordered the best of the best, but that isn’t anything new, either. If there’s a way to spend money, we find it.
It churns my stomach knowing Stella grew up with nothing.
Squeezing her hand tighter, I lean back and give the sommelier room to pour. He offers me the first sip and I nod, not tasting the fizz on my tongue.
“So far, we’ve had all acceptances, no declines,” Stella says, joining the conversation. “It will be nice to put some faces to the names.”
I’m proud of her for speaking up. Because of her limited background, what I’m asking her to do isn’t easy.
We order our meals, and she and Mina start chatting.
I relax.
I don’t know Chase well, and I ask him how things are going at Black Enterprises. He tells me about various projects Ash and his father, Clayton, are working on, and the conversation bores me. The information isn’t anything I wanted to know.
My father would tell me to keep my head in the game. To listen, because you never know when something could be used later. My ears do perk up when Chase mentions Clayton met Denton for drinks last night. He saw the two of them sitting at a corner table at the Alibi Lounge, a swanky downtown basement bar Clayton owns. Tongue-in-cheek, he renamed it after it became a popular place for men to hide their mistresses away to sip on a cocktail and indulge in a little something on the side in the back. In this case, it’s an apt name as well.
It’s interesting news. News I especially didn’t want to hear. If my father were still alive, I wouldn’t think anything of it, but now that my dad’s gone, I don’t know what the two of them would have to discuss.
The implications make me queasy, and the steak I ordered doesn’t sound good anymore. I catch our waiter’s attention and order a whiskey. The champagne isn’t enough. There could be a traitor under the roof of Maddox Industries.
“Did they see you?” I ask.
“Nope—I was lying low myself, but I found it curious.”
“I do, too. If you could keep it to yourself, I would appreciate it. Sounds like I need to do some snooping around and hope it doesn’t lead to damage control.”
“Yeah, no problem. I don’t want Clayton breathing down my neck, anyway. The last thing I need is to get mixed up in his business. I like being able to walk.”
Stella looks at him sharply, interrupting Mina and her explanation of what the Women’s League is and what they do. “What do you mean?” she asks, clutching my leg under the table.
“He was joking, Stella,” I say, patting her hand. “Clayton isn’t dangerous.”
Chase hoots. “You don’t know the same Clayton Black, then. The Blacks have a reputation for being ruthless because they are.”
I knock back my whiskey and gesture for another. “I’ve been friends with the Blacks my whole life,” I say, but Chase shakes his head.
“Then you should know better than anyone.” He eyes my whiskey. “I need one of those, too.”
Mina changes the subject. “Business talk is boring. Where will you and Zarah spend the holidays this year?”
Reluctantly, I shift gears. I want to pump Chase for more information about what he thinks Denton and Clayton were talking about, and besides, I haven’t thought much of the holidays. They’re too far away to concern me right now. This will be our first Christmas without Mom and Dad. We used to go to St. Barth’s every year. We have a standing reservation.
Now, I don’t know. It won’t feel right to celebrate.
I’d like to shut out the world and spend two weeks making love to Stella, but the gala and announcement will change things. People will want to see me, look for, and find proof, that I’m competent and moving on, planning to grab the new year by the throat.
“We might throw a dinner party.” Maybe that will be a compromise between doing nothing and traveling out of the country. Zarah may like opening the penthouse to guests for the holidays, and we need to reconnect with old friends and start making new ones. All of our business contacts are our parents’. It’s time to carve out our own niche in the city.
Stella cuts a bite off the chicken breast she ordered and says nothing.
“Not traveling?” Mina raises her glass to her ruby red lips.
I wonder how fast the news will circulate around King’s Crossing. Mina won’t keep anything I tell her to herself. “This will be the first year without Mom and Dad. It may be best to stay close to home, but I haven’t talked to Zarah about it yet.”
The smile on Mina’s lips falls. “Of course.”
I didn’t want to put her in her place, but Zarah and I are still grieving.
“Any news about that?” Chase asks, rubbing Mina’s shoulder. I was too blunt and I hurt her feelings.
“No. I’m beginning to think there won’t be.”
That’s the truth.
My party can’t come soon enough. I’m anxious to ask Clayton about his PI preferences. I need a good one who won’t be averse to a little dirty digging. I suspect I won’t find information any other way, and Clayton Black will know who can get the job done.
I need to pull my head out of the sand.
My grieving time, despite what I just told Mina, is over.
I listen to Stella and Mina talk about growing up in King’s Crossing. Mina’s family is wealthy, and she and Chase traveled within the same social circles before they married. They have two little kids at home, and they employ a full-time nanny though Mina doesn’t work. Instead, she chairs several foundations, and she brings them into the conversation.
“You should declare a charity,” she says to Stella. “Ask a reporter at the paper to interview you and start making a name for yourself.”
Stella blinks. “What do you mean?”
“A charity to represent, to help them raise money. What’s your cause?”
Stella’s cheeks pink, and I sense us drifting into dangerous waters.
Chase is oblivious, plowing through his meal and guzzling champagne like it’s free.
Oh, right. It is.
“What she means,” I say, resting my hand on the nape of Stella’s neck to calm her down, “is find an area of concern that needs support. Your position as my assistant gives you contacts and resources.”
Mina nods, the diamond twinkling at her throat. “That’s right. Pay it forward.”
Chase’s wife wouldn’t know about paying it forward if it bit her in the ass. Attending charity functions is a convenient excuse to show off her newest dress. Maybe Stella could infuse a little integrity into some of the events around here. It will be interesting to watch.
“Is there something that helps foster kids?” she asks, her lips stiff.
Mina frowns, her delicate, filled-in brows coming together. “I’m not sure. Why don’t we go to lunch and talk about it? If there isn’t something, we can create an organization. Everyone likes a new cause.”
I hold in a sigh. Stella won’t take that the way Mina intended it. I don’t hang around purposely vicious people. They just don’t understand how good they have it.
She pokes at the cold chicken on her plate. “I would like that.”
Thinking she’s done a nice thing, Mina grins. I’ll have to smooth some balm over the burn. In private. With my tongue. Under the table, my hand inches up Stella’s thigh. She slightly parts her legs, and heat radiates from between them. My cock stiffens. I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want Stella.
She shifts and crosses her legs, blocking me out.
I groan, and there’s an edge to her saucy smile.
Over dessert, Chase says, “Did you hear about the woman who accused Ash of rape?”
Stella freezes, and her hand stills above her plate. She dislikes him, and this will add fuel to the fire.
“No,” I say guiltily. I promised Ash if I was dating Stella I wouldn’t forget about our friendship, but we haven’t spoken since lunch at the club. Not even a text.
“Yeah. She went to the cops and everything. Her face was pretty beat up. Someone got her good.”
“Someone?” Stella asks, cutting into her piece of cheesecake and trying to appear nonchalant, but her hand is shaking.
“Well, if she was trying to pay Ash back for something or if she needed money and someone put her up to it, she should have been more thorough. On the night she says he attacked her, he was at his club downtown. A stripper alibied him out. She said they were in the back and she was giving him a dance lesson, if you know what I mean.”
Stella bows her head. She’s probably thinking the same thing I am. Why does he need to go to his strip club when he’s dating my sister? That he owns it is immaterial. He wasn’t there to check up on business. I know him too well to believe that.
Ash does what Ash does, and he’s always been that way.
“I hope they find whoever did it to her,” Stella murmurs.
“I guess it doesn’t matter now,” Chase says, finishing off a brick of chocolate cake.
“Why?” she asks.
“Because she disappeared,” Mina says, her eyes gleaming. “The cops wanted to bring her in for more questioning, but she’s gone. Stopped going to work, her friends haven’t heard a peep. Her car got ticketed and towed. It’s sitting in the city’s impound lot.”
Chase shrugs. “If you’re going to tell lies about a Black, that’s what you get.”
Ash would never do something like that. Rape a woman, beat her. He doesn’t need to force a woman to have sex. He and Zarah are in a relationship and he shouldn’t be hooking up in the first place, but maybe he wanted something my sister isn’t experienced enough to give him, something he felt he should pay for. I’ve never denied Ash has an edge, that he doesn’t have a taste for the darker side of sex, but everything he’s ever done has been consensual. He’d never hurt a woman intentionally.
“She probably realized her mistake and wanted to get away from the gossip rags. You can’t say something like that and not get hounded to death.” I grapple for something that makes sense.
Mina shrugs and drains her champagne glass.
“It’s getting late,” I say, pushing my dessert plate away. I reach for my wallet.
“Let me get this, old man,” Chase says, flagging down our waiter. “Save your pennies. You’ll be spending plenty hosting that party of yours.”
I sit back, surprised. “Thanks.”
“No problem. Hey, it’s good to see you out. We were all sorry to hear about Kagan and Lark. I hope they find the bastards.”
My ears twinge, but before I can ask him to explain, to tell me what he’s heard, the waiter comes by and picks up Chase’s credit card.
“Let me give you my number,” Mina says to Stella, and reluctantly, she pulls the phone that syncs to the Mac and iPad she uses at work out of her purse.
I can’t say why, but her movements make my heart hitch. I don’t like how closed off she feels.
They exchange numbers, and Chase signs the slip, his signature illegible.
We stand in the lobby as the valet retrieves our cars, and Mina and Stella visit the ladies’ room.
“Stella’s a real looker,” Chase says, glancing down the hall where they disappeared. “Young, too. I bet her pussy’s nice and tight, huh?” he asks, slapping my back. He leans in, and I back away, distaste curdling the food in my stomach. Ash is crass, too, but not like that. Not about people we care about. “Mina popped out our girls, and it felt like parking a Mini Cooper in a train tunnel, if you know what I mean.” He guffaws, and I don’t remember him being so annoying. More than likely, he spoke to my father more than he spoke to me.
I don’t envy my dad the shit he put up with. “I’ll remember that.”
Chase nods. “Yep. Don’t be in too big of a rush to have brats. You’re young yet. Let Ash show you a good time first, and then settle down. Get it all out of your system.”
Luckily, the valet returns with Chase’s car, and he waits outside for Mina who flutters her fingers at me on her way out the door.
The doorman opens the passenger side door—Chase is already behind the wheel—and she climbs in. What a prick.
Stella silently waits near me and the unease I felt earlier grows.
We’re a good distance away from the restaurant when she finally says, “What horrible people.”
I agree, but I can’t help but tense. It’s not my fault they can’t see past their own noses. I reach her street and stop outside her apartment building, letting the car idle. We sit, and I stare out the windshield.
I don’t know if she still wants me to go inside. Our romantic dinner turned into two hours of unintentional barbs and insults. Mina didn’t mean half of what came out of her mouth, but Stella isn’t the forgiving type, not about something like that.
“Do you still want to stay?” she asks, not meeting my eyes.
“If you want me to. Stella, look at me.”
She does, and her blue eyes are frozen over.
“Those kinds of people are a part of my life. They’re what make up my social circle. I won’t call them friends because they’re not, but my life is full of people who take how they grew up and their families’ money for granted. Mina didn’t look down on you, so the least you could do is cut her some slack.” I don’t add that the minute Mina’s home, she’ll probably call her ten best friends and tear Stella apart. I hope she won’t. I hope they’ll give her a chance, but they could be like Ash, hate her on sight because she’s poor.
She looks down at her lap.
“I’ll go home.” I’m proud of my family and how I grew up, and I won’t let Stella punish me.
Covering my hand with hers, she says, “No. Stay. I’m sorry.”
I turn the car off and open her door. When I picked her up, I didn’t bring in my bag, and I do that now. Silently, I follow her into the building.
Her apartment could fit inside the penthouse’s foyer, but I like spending time here. I’m not Zane Maddox, CEO of Maddox Industries. I’m not even Zane Maddox, Kagan Maddox’s son. I’m just Zane, who eats pizza, likes sex, and sleeps like the dead because when I’m with Stella, I can relax and stop pretending to be something I’m not.
In her bedroom, we change into our pajamas. I ask if I can pull the pins out of her hair, and she sits next to me on the bed. For every bobby pin I pull out of her twist, I kiss the back of her neck, and she shivers.
It sounds stupid, since I’ve fucked my way through half the women in King’s Crossing, but this is the most intimate I’ve been with a woman. Sitting in silence and shadows and unpinning her hair.
When I’m done, she turns, her blonde hair falling down her back.
She’s wearing a tank top and matching lounging pants, and the little tattoo inked into her skin peeks at me. I rub my lips across the dove on her shoulder. It suits since Stella gives me the only peace I can find these days. She offers me a huge comb, and I brush the snarls out of her hair.
I’m getting hard and I want to make love, but it’s nearing midnight. I can drive us in the morning and it will be faster than riding the bus and train into the city, but we’ll still get barely seven hours of sleep.
“Thanks,” she whispers.
“You’re welcome.”
We brush our teeth, and this is another thing I like. I’ve never brushed my teeth with a woman before. I’ve never let them stay long enough.
She gives me gummy vitamins, and amused, I chew on them and wait for my turn in the bathroom.
The lights are off and we’re lying in bed, and I roll over and gently place my lips on hers. She wraps her arms around my neck and a piece of me that was still worried she was mad about dinner falls away. I don’t want to lose her because of what or who I have to be. “I’m sorry about tonight.”
Stella turns away and burrows into her pillow. “I know it’s not you.”
But.
It is me. There just isn’t much I can do about it.
I lie in the dark and listen to her breathe.
There’s an expectation. A waiting.
I struggle to stay awake—she wants to ask me something. If the chance goes by, she won’t ask. Some things are better said in the dark.
“Do you think he did it?”
“Did what?” There are a lot of things Ash did.
“Beat up that girl.”
“He couldn’t have.”
“Zane.”
I sigh. “Do I think he’s capable of it? Yes. Do I think he would actually do something as horrific as that? Of course not. He isn’t that kind of guy.”
I’ve known Ash my entire life. Him beating up a woman, any woman, wouldn’t be a secret for long. I would have found out, and I sure as hell wouldn’t let him around Zarah.
Stella doesn’t believe me, and I flop onto my stomach and ball my pillow under my head. There’s just enough light coming in through the window from the streetlight outside, and I meet her eyes. God, she’s so beautiful. Her hair shimmers like gold and her face is serene. She could wear a crown, and in that natural way she has, own it completely.
Mina’s a stupid fool for not seeing it.
“Zarah has a bodyguard,” she whispers.
“Good. We don’t know what caused the plane crash, and I wanted her to, but she values her independence too much. I’m glad Ash convinced her.”
“You don’t mind?”
“No. He cares about her, Stella. He just wants to make sure she’s safe.”
“He followed us around yesterday.”
“I’m sorry there are things about my life you don’t like, or that you’re going to have to get used to.”
She rubs her hand over my jaw, and I turn into her touch. I kiss her, and we stop talking. I forget everything but how she makes me feel. Like I can do no wrong.
Like I’m the true king of King’s Crossing.